Vaadin Data Providers in Vaadin 25

Use the Vaadin MCP tools (search_vaadin_docs, get_component_java_api) to look up the latest documentation whenever uncertain about a specific API detail. Always set vaadin_version to "25" and ui_language to "java".

For an exact Java API signature or to read source, use the javadoc MCP (mcp__javadoc__* — find via ToolSearch javadoc if not loaded) to read Javadoc and sources from Maven Central instead of unpacking jars from ~/.m2.

Two Approaches: In-Memory vs. Lazy Loading

In-memory — small datasets that fit in server memory

List<Person> people = personService.findAll();
grid.setItems(people);

Use when: the full dataset is small (hundreds to low thousands of items), or you've already loaded it for other reasons.

In-memory data supports client-side-like sorting and filtering through the ListDataView: